Economy News

Subsidy Support for Foreign-Invested Enterprises in 2016

Registration date02/23/2016WriterSMGviews4265

In accordance with Article 14 of the Foreign Investment Promotion Act (FIPA), Article 20 of the FIPA Enforcement Decree, Article 15 and 16 of the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) Ordinance on Support for Foreign Investment, we hereby offer notification of the plan, outlined below, to provide subsidies for employment, education, and training for foreign invested enterprises in Seoul Metropolitan City in 2016. Eligible companies are kindly requested to submit subsidy applications in accordance with the following.

February 18, 2016

Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan City

■ Eligible Period: January 1, 2015 ~ December 31, 2015

■ Eligibility and Conditions

○ Eligibility: Foreign investment projects attracted by the SMG or foreign-invested enterprises that invest in new growth industries designated by the SMG

– New employment and training should take place within five years of the date of foreign-invested enterprise registration or within five years of the date of additional investment.

– Through new recruitment in 2015, the total number of employees must have increased by more than 10 persons over the preceding year.

※ Number of regular employees: average number of employees who are listed in the Income Tax Withdrawal Report submitted to the tax office, as per Article 185 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act, for the most recent three months (Oct ~ Dec of 2014; Oct ~ Dec of 2015)

– As of the application date, a corporation with a foreign investment ratio of over 30 percent (excluding shares (stocks) of foreign companies held by Korean nationals and corporations)

※ Regular employees refers to domestic nationals in employment as of the date of application.

– Newly-hired employees who completed education and training at qualified job training institutions, as per the Vocational Education and Training Promotion Act, are eligible for the education and training subsidy.

■ Subsidy amount

○ Up to KRW 200 million per corporation (employment subsidy, education and training subsidy)

– For each employee exceeding 10 newly hired employees: up to KRW 1 million per employee for up to six months

○ Total subsidy budget: KRW 372 million

※ Even if the number of applicants exceeds the budget amount, the provided support must remain within the budgetary limit.

■ Application

○ Period: February 16 ~ April 30, 2016

○ Method: In person or via regular mail or email (valid if postmarked on deadline)

■ Fulfillment of conditions

○ A separate account to receive and spend the subsidy should be set up, and be used only for personnel expenses (salary, bonus, welfare expenses, etc.).

○ Companies that receive the subsidy must maintain the number of regular employees and foreign investment ratio (of over 30 percent) that were reported at the time of subsidy application for a period of three years (i.e. 2017 through to 2019).

※ In the event of any of the following , any subsidy already paid shall be refunded by the recipient, and the amount to be refunded shall be proportional to the period during which each of the following were true.
– Violation of the above mentioned conditions for subsidy support
– Receipt of subsidy through false or illegal means
– Relocation of business place to other cities or provinces

■ Others

○ For further inquiries, please contact an officer with the Investment Promotion Division of the SMG (☏02-2133-5356, lilacjm@seoul.go.kr).